Station 3: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem | Reflection by Janet Calhoun

Years ago, I was cast in a production of the American classic, Our Town. In the show I played a mother whose daughter was getting married and during the wedding scene, I was supposed to burst out into tears. As hard as I tried, I could not make it happen. I had envisioned my character as a kind but stern disciplinarian who didn’t believe her daughter was making the right choice. Crying was not on the menu. Seeing my difficulty, the director pulled me aside and reminded me that she was my daughter and that above all else, I loved her. That very small shift in thought changed everything. I suddenly saw that my child, the one I loved, raised, and protected, was grown up and leaving home—a genuine reason to burst out into tears. Looking at the situation through the lens of love allowed me to see into the heart and understand the real motivation and story. 

So what does any of that have to do with the daughters of Jerusalem who followed Jesus wailing and lamenting him along the Via Dolorosa? Growing up, I saw God as sometimes kind but always a stern disciplinarian and to me, Jesus’ words always sounded harsh. "Oh ye of little faith…" (e.g., Lk. 12:28, KJV), "You unbelieving and perverse generation…" (Lk. 9:41, NIV), "Let the dead bury their own dead" (Lk. 9:60, NIV). Then one day, a thought took hold. What would happen if I read Jesus’ words with tenderness, as though he loved me? Wow! Again, applying the lens of love yielded dramatic results.

When I first read the Passion scene in Luke, it was through my hurt, angry, and worldly eyes. If I was the one beaten, scourged and being led to the Place of the Skull, I would be angry at being falsely accused and convicted, tortured and humiliated. My last words would be seething, and anything I had to say to anyone who looked on would be harsh and full of curses, giving those around me cause to simply turn away. However, through the lens of love, I see a different scene:

Through the narrow streets with scoffers pressing in, Jesus, broken and stumbling and tortured beyond recognition, is followed by a small group of women. These women, following the blood, are moved by what they see: an innocent man tortured and sentenced to die. Yet, Scripture does not identify them as His followers, so it is likely they did not fully understand nor see the whole truth unfolding before them; therefore, their lamentations and tears were misguided. Perhaps Jesus stumbles again and, as he rises, he looks up and sees them with their wet cheeks. Then, not with a loud and booming voice that all can hear but with a hoarse yet resolute voice says to these women, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us'; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.' For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23:28-31, RSV).

On the surface it sounds like a bitter admonishment, yet through the lens of love I see that, even as he makes his way to the cross, he looks at those he loves, tries to reach them, to warn them, and to move them to weep tears of true repentance rather than tears of pity. What I hear Jesus say is, "Oh my children of Jerusalem, your tears are misdirected. Weep for yourselves and for your children, for you did not recognize me. Behold, there is coming a time far more devastating than this. Then your suffering will be so great that it will be seen as a blessing to not have children, for you will not have to watch them suffer and die. When that time comes, you will be crying out to be covered by the mountains and the hills, crying out for death. Look! Look at what they have done to the innocent, the wood that is green. Imagine what will be done to the guilty, the wood that is dry."

I see this station of the cross as Jesus’ final prophecy and appeal to repentance, an act of love on the way to the cross.

Oh Lord, as you lead us to the cross, open our eyes to see the truth of our own iniquity, and open our ears to Yeshua’s cry to repentance.